David Stern sets date for retirement as NBA commissioner

Long-time NBA commissioner David Stern has set his retirement for Feb. 1, 2014, exactly 30 years after he took over the league’s top leadership role in 1984. He will be replaced by his deputy Adam Silver.

Stern made the announcement Thursday in New York at a meeting of the NBA’s Board of Governors, during which Spurs owner Peter Holt was also elected as the board’s new chairman.

Stern, 70, is the longest-standing commissioner in NBA history, credited with helping pull the NBA back from its malaise in the 1970s and establishing it as a world-wide brand. But he also presided over two lockouts and the loss of multiple markets, including Seattle.

“I told (the board) that it’s been a great run, it will continue for another 15 months, that the league is in, I think, terrific condition,” Stern said.